5 Poet Arthur Rimbaud In Illuminations. You will taste dawn. emerald waterfalls. a loch of indigo. avalanches of centauresses. a handsome prince and. best of all. a vision of your childhood‘s summers.

“WHAT— DID YOU THINK?

lain

Cafe attendant Life can deal yOu a lot of burr cards but this is not one of them.

8 THE LIST 1—15 Nov 2301

' THE OPINION

Roviiling merrily along

Everyone loves Harry Potter. Right? Or is he just a wizard marketing wheeze?

Words: James Smart

hat with the books and the film. everyone‘s pretty excited about Harry Potter and his wi/arding chums. .-\nd why not‘.’ They turn the least bookish of children into avid readers and have proved exceptionally successful with adults as well. Indeed. Bloomsbury brings out an adult’s edition with

every children‘s paperback edition of the Potter

saga. The text is exactly the same. but the covers are artier and their backpieces are laden with quotes from the papers. The privilege of reading

Potter without embarrassment isn‘t free. of

course; you pay £6.99 instead of £5.99 a copy. But is there really need for such subterfuge? If you want

to read a kids book you should read a kids book. And yourself or your inside The Herald. Potter.

anyway. it’s not as if you‘re huddling your copy of [lust/er

sitting in a dark room with The Hundred Greatest Kit/s ‘ 'll’ Themes on repeat play.

The producers of the upcoming film of Harry Puller/ind 'l'lre Philosopher's Stone have claimed that what gives the novels their edge is the ‘sense of real darkness'. But Rowling‘s villains are too wafer thin to be threatening. Voldemort. thankfully. acquired a little stature in the over- long (job/er (ll/"ire. but in the first three books is a rather pitiful creature. mooching around a boarding school in disguise before being stripped of his mask in twists that suggest Scooby Doo.

And Rowling's minor villains are drawn with decidedly primary colours. Not content with creating a spoilt brat in Dudley Dursley. she gives the poor lad ‘piggy little eyes and five chins‘. (‘ompared with such facile characters. the rather dull Potter (solid at schoolwork. sickeningly brilliant at sport. no real interests. revered by all) acquires a messianic status.

The irritating thing is that this Potter worship isn't about to end. Anyone who somehow hasn‘t been reached by the books will be swamped by the buzz for the

after all. is literature: volum‘ " ' film and the associated “ choosmg Phil

three won the Whitbread for

best children‘s book. while all Collins over four novels have been lauded

by broadsheets and tabloids. But are they really worth

the praise‘.’ Rowling's novels are highly readable works of escapist fantasy. deserving of both attention and space on bookstore shelves. But they do not deserve to spill into all areas of our culture and they do not deserve to obscure the likes of Philip Pullman or past works such as Tl l. White's ()II('(’ :lnr/ [VIII/ire King or (‘8. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles. ('hoosing Potter for yourself or your offspring above such works is like choosing Phil (‘ollins over Primal Scream. Revelling in their safe nostalgia is as bad as

The Man Who Wasn’t There Cameo Cinema

Christine

marketing campaign. And who‘s directing the film'.’ Chris Columbus. a man with Home Alone. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York and Jingle .-l// The Hirv under his marshmallow-studded belt.

The problem isn‘t so much the books themselves. but the fact that once a cultural behemoth like this has started moving. it is very difficult to stop. ()nce something gets commercially important enough. it will carry on. Usually while getting worse. The boy will soon be everywhere 7 but we elevated the Potter series to such heights. and we will pay the price.

Disagree? react@list.co.uk

. l tlrnlnir'gli

Steve Cum servant All ll‘.(3 Coen

different fron‘ each other. In this one Blll‘, Bob Thornton is {lll‘él/Tlllg. You have to get into his r:t>rft>"rr‘ziri(:e to really apprettiate it.